Zumba and Toning

What is Zumba?

Zumba an aerobic fitness program featuring movements inspired by various styles of Latin American dance and performed primarily to Latin American dance music. The choreography incorporates hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue and mambo. Squats and lunges are also included.

Don’t worry if you’re not a Latin ballroom trophy holder. Just keep kicking your legs and swaying your arms. Moving and having fun is the goal.

Unlike a traditional aerobics class, you don’t have to worry about stepping or clapping in perfect time. Zumba movements are more free flowing.

After a Zumba class, you’ll feel less like you marched in a boot camp drill and more like you let yourself go at a party.

What Are The Benefits of Zumba?

Calorie and fat burning: At its core, Zumba classes provide a large calorie burn through aerobic activity done with interval training in mind. The average person will burn around 600 to 1,000 calories in a Zumba class. With the classes choreographed to provide intervals of intensity in both pace of music and type of movements, class members’ energy expenditure is maximized for fat-burning benefits.

Improved coordination: By joining a Zumba class, you’ll definitely improve your coordination, which is extremely important to maintain as you grow older.

Full body workout: Zumba is both a dance class and a fitness class. Aside from its heart-health benefits, Zumba provides a workout for the whole body. From head and shoulder rolls that loosen up the neck and warm up the upper body, to footwork that strengthens and stretches calves and ankles, this fitness method touches on nearly every muscle and joint.

Aerobic benefits:

Zumba makes reaching your target heart rate much easier than standard workout routines you’d find on a DVD or in a gym. It does this by using songs that play around 145 beats per minute. This fast pace makes it feel natural to move around quickly. This will set you on the path to true aerobic exercise. If you are trying to build endurance, this is the best thing you can do for yourself. Exercising for prolonged periods at this rate can increase the strength of your heart.

Mood boosting:

Zumba is the perfect workout to take if you want to get rid of all that stress you accumulate during your every day. The upbeat moves specific to this type of workout favor the release of those mood-improving endorphins, and by joining a Zumba class, you’ll surely be able to feel your worries melt away as you lose yourself in the music.

It’s social: At a Zumba class, you’ll be able to meet and interact with interesting and fun people. You could go to this type of workout for at least two or three times per week and you’ll get to socialize and make a lot of new friends among your Zumba classmates. You can also bring your friends to the party — instructors host “Zumba parties” for corporate challenges, bachelorette parties and more.

About the Class

Bored with the treadmill? Those who enjoy a group workout atmosphere should check out our free Zumba and toning classes. The program runs year around except for holidays.

Two locations currently offer the classes. The morning classes at the Rec Center are four days out of the week. The evening classes at Gonzalez Park are three days out of the week.

Zumba and Toning in the AM

The Rec Center

Zumba & Toning

1338 E. 8TH Street

Monday- Thursday

956-542-2064

8:30 am - 9:30 am

Zumba in the PM

Gonzalez Park Gym

Zumba

34 Tony Gonzalez DR

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ONLY

956-542-2064

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

How to Register

To inquire or register for class at the Rec Center, you may contact the Zumba instructor Mayra Arellano at 956-459-7942.

To inquire or register for class at Gonzalez Park, please dial 956-655-1065 or 956-832-4217

What should I wear?

Come dressed in comfortable fitness attire that's easy to move in and can handle sweat. Wear sneakers that support dance movement — think side-to-side movements and pivots rather than simple front-to-back movement. Good shoes can include cross trainers, dance sneakers, or even running shoes with a worn-out tread